Month: July 2014

The Oakland A’s have provided the second big jolt of the baseball season. Billy Beane leaves no doubt he is going for a title.

Right now.

The A’s acquired another coveted arm in Jon Lester from Boston, along with Johnny Gomes (first reported by WEEI beat writer Alex Speier). How? Beane gave up Yoenis Cespedes. Yes, Beane just did that. Cespedes is no longer for the rest of us.

It’s clearly World Series title or bust for the A’s. They just gave up a key cog in the best offense in the majors to rent one of the hottest commodities in baseball.

Lester has a 2.52 ERA and a 1.119 WHIP while pitching for one of the worst teams in the American League. He is a beast. He does more than fill the hole created by Jason Hammel’s struggles. This makes the A’s rotation scary good with a top four of Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir, Jeff Samardzija and now Lester.

But … Lester is going to make a boat load of money in the offseason. He’s way out of the A’s price range. He’ll be taking $100 million plus to take his considerable skills elsewhere.

There had been reports the A’s were in the mix. But that felt much more like the A’s were kicking tires, maybe see if they could fill a need by being a third-team. Beane, however, was pushing all his chips to the center of the table.

Why would the A’s give up Cespedes to get Lester for August, September and October?

Tuesday night’s game showed why anyone who is ready to stick a fork in the Giants need to put them back in the oven. They’re not done yet.

And not done in an still-mathematically-alive way. But not done in a dangerous, could-make-a-deep-run kind of way. The pieces are there and they were on display in the 14-inning, nearly-six-hour marathon win over the host Phillies in the wee hours of the night.

For the smart-mouths on Twitter, lemme clarify. Sure, many haven’t written the Giants off. But their issues are well-documented. I’m talking about from a win-it-all perspective. They fell off noticeably from a hot start and aren’t nearly as dominating as they were. They weren’t playing well until recently and still have several concerns when you start matching them up with the other contenders in the NL. But …

Even with the nagging injuries, and the mediocre performances from players they banked on, the Giants still have unique talents who can do special things. Perhaps enough to carry the Giants over a mediocre NL West. No team in the National League really should scare the Giants.

They’ve won 7 of 10, bouncing back from the fall from grace they endured earlier. They’ve gotten some good signs of late. The most encouraging is a warming Buster Posey.

He confirmed it in his letter to Sports Illustrated, where he explained why he’d made the decision to leave Miami and return to Cleveland. He is incomparable physically. Skill-wise, he fits neatly somewhere between Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. No, he is not the closer that Kobe Bryant and Larry Bird and Jordan were.

But this one knock is compensated for by this other great attribute that sets him apart: James is as inspiring as a man as he is as a player.

To be sure, I don’t know LeBron. I’ve done a handful of interviews with him but I doubt he could pick me out of a lineup. So I can’t speak from the perspective of someone connected to his inner circle. I’m only going by how he carries himself, what I’ve read about him from the people who know him, and on what he stands for.

And today, James became a Hall of Fame role model to go with his all-world talent.

The likelihood is he will eventually lead Cleveland to a championship. He’s got Kyrie Irving, the point guard he’s never had, and he could be getting All-Star forward Kevin Love. But James went to Cleveland for reasons that are so unselfish and so compassionate, it’s almost unbecoming for a modern superstar.

Tommy Milone hasn’t lost a start since May 3 at Boston. In his 11 starts since, he gave up a total of 20 runs. Yet Saturday he was sent to the minors.

There it is. The illustration of why A’s general manager Billy Beane pulled the trigger on a blockbuster weeks before trade deadline, why he gave up top prospect Addison Russell. With the acquisition of Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel from the Cubs, the A’s starting rotation has crazy depth.

Now, Oakland is much more ready to hang with the big arms they’ll face in the playoffs. They can go into Games 3 and 4 of a series relying on more than the hope of long shot punching above his weight.

Of most importance, per Beane, they have depth to help them ward of the charging Anaheim Angels and Seattle Mariners for the AL West crown.

The A’s don’t have marquee names taking the mound. But they have a top four that will provoke sweat beads in opposing brows: Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir, Samardzija and Hammel. Four starters with reliable stuff, with experience under their belts, with the moxie to match the big moments sure to come.

Add to that the highest-scoring offense in baseball and a bullpen that has found its groove, and the A’s are in way better position for a World Series run.

Called up the newest Warrior, Shaun Livingston, and he was every bit as down-to-earth as I was told. He sounded very appreciative and relieved. You could tell it has been along journey for him. It’s only a three-year deal for just over $5 million each – but that’s a big deal for a guy who was supposed to be done, who’s played for eight teams in his nine pro seasons.

But can he help the Warriors?

I asked him in this short and quick interview. As an overview, I will say this: he is confident.

Warriors have agreed to terms with free agent point guard Shaun Livingston.

“We intend to enter into a player contract once the player contract with Shaun Livingston once the moratorium period ends,” Bob Myers said.

The three-year, $16 million deal, first reported by Yahoo! Sports, can’t be signed until the NBA’s moratorium ends on July 10.

Livingston fills the Warriors’ hole behind Stephen Curry. Livingston, a nine-year vet, spent last season with Brooklyn. He was high on the Warriors’ list of potential back-up point guards. The Warriors leaned his way because they could lock him up now for the entire mid-level exception.

Livingston, a former No. 4 overall pick (2004) who suffered a devastating knee injury early in his career, is coming off one of his best seasons. He averaged 8.3 points, 3.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds in 26 minutes — all his highest marks since he dislocated his knee cape and tore four ligaments in his left knee in 2007.

The evidence is in how much the 2-1 loss to Belgium hurts. The ratings will show what social media suggests — the nation was captivated by the U.S. men’s national team presence in the knockout rounds of the 2014 World Cup.

Tuesday’s match was reality catching up with America. There is an elite level of soccer we just haven’t reached. The talent, skill and technique of the U.S. is behind the world’s best. Belgium was clearly the better squad.

But it was riveting to watch the Yanks try to compensate with heart. It’s how they defied the odds and made it through the group stages, in arguably the toughest quartet of the tournament. It was enough to help them hang on for a scoreless tie through regulation despite being thoroughly outplayed.

And it almost brought them back from two-goal deficit in extra time.

“It’s the American mentality. It’s the American spirit,” said Landon Donovan, who served as an ESPN commentator after being left off the team in a controversial move by coach Jürgen Klinsmann. “That team kept going, kept fighting.”